The Next Hero: part one
by TheWordSmith777
Summary: Christopher Knack has never met his father and has never wanted to. But that starts to change when a strange birthday present from him sends christopher into another dimension. Can christopher get home? Does he want to?- A lot of OCs and takes place many years after the death of Finn. May have some of the longer lived characters.


**For those of you who do not know this is a rewrite of an earlier story of mine so i need as much criticism as i can get. Please review or send a pm. Enjoy.**

* * *

~Christopher~

Have you ever been deep in thought one day and got a feeling deep inside yourself that there just has to be more to the world, more than just what you could see, well that's because there is. Before we get started you need to know that everything you are about to read is absolutely true no matter how farfetched or outlandish it may seem. There are great powers working all around us, powers I still don't quite understand and probably never will, and I think it's our responsibility to tell you about them whether you believe us or not. If you do great, get prepared and you just might survive. If not, well… you can't say we didn't try.

* * *

All this craziness started about three months ago. I woke up that morning, sat straight up and thought to myself "thank god, it's finally Monday." An odd thought I know but today was different. I hastily went through my morning routine and got dressed in the usual jeans, tennis shoes, T-shirt, jacket, you know the drill. I entered my kitchen and heard a loud pop, the only warning of the coming assault. In an instant I was pelted with streamers and enough confetti to drive an environmentalist insane as my mom shouted "happy birthday" at the top of her lungs. For those of you who don't know her, my mom is awesome. She's always crafting and painting and goes out of her way to make the best of bad situations. Just as the barrage died down Grieg pulled the string of another pack of confetti sending more paper at my face for good measure. Grieg has been my best friend for almost as long as I can remember. He tends to get into trouble a lot, dragging me along for the ride more often than not, but he's a good guy. I met him back when we were in kindergarten when he took my lunch and I kicked him in the shins for it, ahh friendship. "I can't believe you're already fifteen." My mom said

"I know" Grieg said leaning his chair onto its back legs "now that we're the same age I can't boss him around anymore."

"Yeah, like I ever let you boss me around" I said as I tapped his chair making him pin wheel his arms to stay balanced.

"You boys better get going if you're going to get to school on time" my mom said as she began to clean up the paper on the floor.

"Sure thing" I said as I grabbed my backpack and headed for the door.

"Dude, I can't believe you're going to school on your birthday." Grieg said as they neared their destination.

"I know this may sound crazy to you Grieg, but some people actually like school"

"hey, I'm just saying if it where me I'd be long gone by now at some beach as far away from any potential homework as possible"

We walked past the school gates just as the warning bell rang out across the courtyard. Our school wasn't all that big so we still had some time before going to class. Our school was just two, two-story buildings and a library arranged in a rough half-circle and a gym on the open end with a sports field behind it. As Grieg and I started towards our classes we heard some scuffling coming from behind some nearby stairs and went to check it out. There were four people behind the stairs. There was David Cink, a quiet kid I knew from my third period, who was currently pinned to the wall by, easily the most hated kid in school, Tommy Stevenson. He was flanked by the two Sturges boys, his muscle, they were two big ugly twins with the joint IQ of a box of rocks. "Tommy just let me go I've given you everything already" David whimpered as he tried to wriggle out of his grip.

"Davy, Davy, Davy you know I would just love to let you go, but I can't have people thinking I've gone soft now can I." Tommy said his voice thick with fake empathy. "Now you just stand still and take your beating like a good little" before he could finish Grieg's fist slammed into the side of his face.

"God I hate that guy." Grieg said as he pulled David out of the corner. The Sturges where getting over their initial shock and began closing in on Grieg and David so I ran up and kicked big ugly #1 in the back of the knees and backhanded him the rest of the way to the ground while Grieg took out big ugly #2 with a hard kick to a very sensitive male body part. Tommy got up and looked at the two groaning Sturges. "Get out of here Tommy, you're done" Grieg said hatefully.

"Yeah well… at least my father's not a dumbass drunk like yours" when Tommy said that I had to grab onto Grieg to keep him from tearing him apart. Grieg hated his father and what Tommy had said was true, but the only thing Grieg hated more than his father was someone talking bad about him. "I'm going to get you two for this. Don't you forget that for a second." Tommy said as he walked off holding his bleeding nose. Grieg responded with a particularly rude gesture.

"You okay David?" I asked as he picked up the backpack they took from him.

"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks for that you guys." David said as he put his watch back on "oh crap I'm late" he added and ran off.

"He's right we better get going" Grieg said

Well needless to say we did not get to class on time. Other than getting marked tardy and "accidentally" blowing stuff up in chemistry nothing bad or exciting happened at school for the rest of the day. But after school, well… that was a different story all together.

* * *

None of the weird stuff started happening until I got home. We had already eaten cake (my mom, Grieg and I) and I was beginning to open my presents. Most of them where just the normal presents that I get every year like tools, springs, metal, just general inventing supplies. My mom's expression changed to something a little more saddened as pulled an old black leather box from a small cabinet above our fridge "Christopher" my mom said in a tone that matched her expression "your father left this with me a long time ago. He told me to give it to for your fifteenth birthday" my expression hardened at the mention of my father. You see, my father did the shitiest thing a man could ever do. He left my mom all alone just before I was born. I get angry just thinking about that waste of space. My mom always says that "he had his reasons" and that "he really was a good man at heart", but good men don't abandon their families.

"I don't want it" I said as if she was trying to give me a box of manure.

"Oh come on" she said sweetly as pressed the box into my hands.

"No" I said more forcefully as I set the box on the table.

"Please, for me. Even I don't know what's in that box" Damn that woman; she knows me too well. If I were a cat my curiosity would've killed me years ago.

"Oh fine I'll open the box" I said flatly. I picked up the box with shaky hands. I was a little exited despite of myself. I set the box on my lap and opened the lock with a rather old-looking red key that my mom produced from the same cabinet the box was in. the lock clicked and the old hinges creaked as I lifted the lid. In the box was a necklace, well more of an amulet or a medallion… yeah let's go with medallion. The medallion had a thin black rope threaded with silvery strands of metal. The medallion itself was round and depicted two serpents like creatures intertwined from end to end, each head facing the other. Each serpent had a mouthful of sharp teeth and mains that looked like they were made of quills. Another strange detail about the serpents was that they had legs, six each to be exact, four in the front and two in the back at the base of their tail. The only difference between the two was that the one on the left had a pair of long horns that ended in clusters of small points. Something about these things was very familiar, like some half-forgotten thing in an old dream, but I waved it away as just my imagination.

"Well, put it on." My mother smiled

"What? No." I said holding the thing at arm's length. I don't know why but it made me feel uneasy. The medallion felt… off.

"Please, for me" my Mom said once more

"Fine," I sighed as I reluctantly put it around my neck "but you can't use that line again for, like three months."

"Deal, now you boys get out of the house. I still have some surprises to set up." she said as she got up from the table.

"Kay Mom. Hey Grieg come out back I want to show you something." I said as I pushed in my chair.

"You boys feel free to come back in an hour or so" my mom called to us as we went out the door.

"Sure Ms. K" Grieg called back just before the door shut.

We walked the short distance to a shed behind my house that served as a sort of workshop whenever I wanted to make something. I walked in and dragged out a large used-to-be white sack. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" Grieg asked.

"Part of it" I replied as I hefted the sack over my shoulder "the rest is at the quarry." a smile spread across Grieg's face. He knew what that meant. The quarry is where I test my more exciting, loud, and dangerous inventions or experiments. The quarry was abandoned and very isolated so no one would be bothered by the loud noise or bright lights, and the fact that rocks don't catch on fire didn't hurt either. I set the sack down next to an old-looking length of plywood once we reached the edge of the quarry. I move the piece of plywood revealing a crate I had buried to the lid, inside were three homemade cylinders.

"What is that?" Grieg asked pointing at the cylinder in my hand as I walked over to him.

"this" I said motioning like a model in a commercial with my free hand "my good sir, is a thick tube of organic tree pulp connected on each end to a solidified petroleum caps by high strength adhesive strips and is filled with a cargo of homemade Trinitrotoluene."

"Please" Grieg begged "Chris in English."

"Okay fine." I said and began pointing at each part in the same order "cardboard, plastic caps, duct tape, and homemade dynamite"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… dynamite?"

"Yeah"

"Seriously, dynamite?"

"I said Trinitrotoluene didn't I"

"Dude… that is so awesome!"

"Oh, just you wait" I said as removed the sack and revealed a, very, modified pitching machine.

"What is that?!"

"That, my friend, is awesome" I took a step back to admire my work; what used to be an old electric pitching machine I found in a junkyard, now closer resembled a machine gun turret from WW2. It now had a four foot PVC barrel, large curved pieces of spray painted plywood to serve as blast shields if something went wrong and a simple circle sight. I also tinkered with the tripod so it would swivel easily in most any direction. "Would you do the honors?" I asked gesturing towards the controls.

"Hells yeah I will! But, how do I work it?" he asked noticing the absence of a trigger.

"Just aim it, then light it, and drop it in that hole there and the machine will do the rest" I said tossing him a box of matches.

"Sweet!" he exclaimed as he set his sights. Once he found his target, an old graffiti covered sign in the lower end of quarry, he lit and dropped the dynamite. With a slight whistle the explosive flew through the air landing just a few feet from its destination. Nothing happened for a few seconds and I was beginning to fear that it I had gotten the recipe wrong. With a blast louder than thunder my fears were put rest, along with the sign and the dirt around it. "This stuff is dangerous man… I love it." Grieg said patting the launcher as if it were his only child.

"You want to try it again?"

"Please."

"See if you can hit that over there" I said tossing him another stick and pointing at a rock face at the other end of the quarry.

"You know I can." He said confidently as he aimed the launcher. Once again he sent the explosive flying. His timing was better this time and it exploded on contact, although it was not the rock face he hit but a small out cropping a little ways away from it. After the explosion the outcropping began to sway and crack, in a matter of seconds the wall of rock had completely crumbled. At that moment I was quite proud of myself.

"Let's go check it out." I said as I climbed down into the quarry. When we reached the rubble I was filled with a sense of accomplishment. Here was a wall of rock that had stood for years, defying the elements, and because of me it had been reduced to bits of rubble in just a few moments.

"Man, just look at all these pieces" Grieg said, picking up and chucking an apple sized one. When the chunk of rock landed it made a hollow sound, like a hammer on sheet metal. "You hear that?"

"Yeah, hey maybe it buried treasure" I joked as we walked over. What we found was just as strange. It was a small metal box about as big as my palm. The metal was an odd color, depending on the angle it was either a deep purple or a light turquoise. Engraved on the top of the box was an image of a mask. The only features it had where the openings for the eyes and hooked nose. I did not like this box. It had that same strange familiarity about it and I wanted no part of it.

"I wonder what's inside" Grieg said as he picked up the box.

"I don't think that's a good idea" I said wearily

"What? Are you afraid pirates are going come after it?"

"No it's just I… look this isn't a good idea let's just put it back. It's been an hour already anyways."

"Oh come on; let's just see what's inside real quick and then we'll go"

"OK fine, let's get this over with" I said growing more nervous by the second.

Grieg turned the box over a few times looking for a latch or a small handle. When none were found he resorted to just yanking on the lid as hard as he could. "This isn't getting us anywhere let's just put it back and get out of here" I pleaded after his vain attempts at opening the box.

"Dude, what's with you? we can't just leave now, I mean just look at this thing there has to be something cool inside"

"No man, it's not worth it. let's just go."

"How about this, if you can't open it we'll leave. Good?

"Good." I didn't want to even touch the thing but if it got Grieg to leave it alone so we could leave I could stand it.

"Great" Grieg said and tossed me the box. It seemed to fly through the air in slow motion. When the box touched my hands the engraving flared with a green light and the box snapped open. A small jewel flew out of the box and into the air. The jewel was like none I had ever seen, it was covered in a mass of ever-changing colors from the deepest purple to the bluest skies. The jewel flew straight into a small socket in the medallion I hadn't noticed before and the serpent like things opened their eyes. There was a blinding flash, and suddenly I was falling.


End file.
